Today has been a pile of poop. I could dwell, but I choose not to.
Focus on the positives. Focus on the goal.
Focus...
Yesterday was pretty awesome.
I've been writing at work. Though I haven't been able to meet my quota after, putting pages to the hard drive, I have been quite good at squeezing out a paragraph here, a sentence there during breaks or lulls at work. Being unable to use my cell phone, it's really the only thing that I'm allowed to do to keep from falling asleep at 4 in the morning. The problem with this, however, is that I didn't want to do that with either the book (or the script). I'm working on an all-electronic (or mostly) capture writing process this time around. In the past, I've preferred to write things in a notebook before transferring them to the computer. The benefits for this are two-fold. First, is a mandatory proof reading session with what I've already written. The second is that because what ends up on my hard drive is often so different from what was on the page that it, to me at least, counts as a third draft. From what was in my head, revised onto the page, revised as it goes into the computer, by the time I revise the electronic file I have written something (technically) four times and I am thoroughly sick of it.
It is for this reason, keeping the living manuscript fresh between drafts, that I have decided to forgo my usual habits this time around. Also, one of my usual procrastination tactics, postponing the writing because I have so much to transpose to the computer, is also responsible for more sloth, and, in the end, bouts of writer's bloc, then I care to admit to.
On the flip side of that coin, I have to write when I feel inspired, even at work, and since I can't type or text it out, pen and paper will have to do. For now.
So, old habits creeping in, procrastinating because I had so many pages to transpose, I simply took the reigns yesterday and dug in. It was a good writing session and things felt fresh because, at least in these pages, I had more than a few fine details that I had left to later because I didn't have the internet at my fingertips to research while I was writing. Maybe I should do more: get the skeleton of the story when working on pen and paper and then fill in the details while transposing. This is the best of both worlds. I still get my extra draft and proof-reading session while managing to make the draft feel fresh and, more importantly, complete, without the dreaded hatred of even the idea of going back and rewriting.
On a related topic, the details I cultivated yesterday revealed so much about these characters-another boon. Having written over 100 combined pages (from notes to outline to book) about these people it's really nice to discover things about your characters that you don't know about them. And in writing, it's really all about the details, otherwise what you (probably) have are cardboard cut outs of real people. Details are also good to keep me wired into what's actually happening in the story at that moment. That may sound pretty obvious, but personally, I'm always thinking of what's ahead. I get so excited about what's to come that I often get discouraged that I'm ever going to get there, get bored, and, finally, quit. In screenplays I have circumvented this particular character flaw by cheating: writing scenes out of order, outlining when I should just write the scenes, then writing the "fun stuff" based off the outline (She's in the Details, anyone?). Writing a book feels more organic, maybe others with more experience can use similar tricks, but I cannot cheat this time.
I must stay grounded. Focus.
Even this blog entry was sort of a cheat. I used it to avoid doing my quota pages (cause honestly, I didn't have it in me) because I felt crappy on a crappy day and wanted to focus my energy elsewhere while simultaneously feeling accomplished. *Sigh*
Day off tomorrow. I am aware that it is also the berfday of the Estados Unidos, but I will get my pages done, regardless.
And finish Season 4 of Breaking Bad.
And find a new book to read.
And...
(Truth in a Hat)
(Day 14 of 73)
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